Monday, March 11, 2002

Washington College Students Spend Spring Break Building Houses With Habitat For Humanity

Chestertown, MD, March 11, 2002 — Twenty students from Washington College are spending spring break in Columbus, GA, building houses through Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge program. The groups will join 350 other college students from 18 colleges and universities across the nation spending the week of March 9-17 to build 15 houses. This is the largest Habitat for Humanity build in the country this year.

The College's team leaders, Audra Barbour '03, Minety Abraham '04, and Nicole Moore '05, an SGA service representative, led the Habitat team in a two-week fundraiser that brought $2,470.00 in donations to support the trip. The money will be given to the Columbus Area Habitat for Humanity to help build homes in the area.

"This is the third year we have participated in the program and each year the number of students participating has doubled," said Vicky Sawyer, Washington College's associate director of career development and coordinator of campus service learning. "It's a very popular program, and our students are always recruiting more people to do it for the next year."

Sawyer and Leah Newell, director of international students and programs, will accompany the students.

Collegiate Challenge is a year-round program, coordinated through the Campus Charters and Youth Programs department at Habitat for Humanity International in Americus, Ga. More than 10,000 students from more than 450 colleges, universities and high schools will work at more than 200 sites nationwide for the Collegiate Challenge Spring Break 2002. Many of the Washington College students joining the Collegiate Challenge program are active members of the Washington College Student Service Council, as well as the campus' service organizations such as Hands Out, FORCE and Target Tutoring. This program allows students the opportunity to help others build new homes, new hope and new lives, while bringing back skills, experiences and enthusiasm to share with the rest of their campus.